The Friends of Airedale gave £8,500 to the hospital’s theatres department to buy a pair of bariatric leg supports, which are used to raise and move larger patients’ legs during some types of operations.

The hydraulic leg supports used previously allow patients up to a weight of 25st to be manoeuvred and positioned.

But the theatres department at Airedale says it has increasingly been receiving patients who are heavier than this.

Julie Livesey, general manager for the surgical group and lead cancer manager at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, said the new supports were for patients up to a weight of 364kg (57st).